From the dirt to our plate; the trials and realities of first-time farm ownership

UPDATE: Broody, Bloodied & Hopeful

If you’ve kept up with my blog posts on Community Chickens you’ll also know my duck Diller was attacked by one of our dogs. She was patched up with super glue and two days later I left to go out of town. My husband provided me with updates almost daily.
Although we had our doubts she would survive, I’m happy to say that Diller is alive and well. It’s amazing what the drive of a broody mother-to-be can do. She was willing to protect those eggs with her life and her recovery is likely reflective of that.

She was sequestered in her duck house for an entire week as my husband cared for the flock in my absence. This kept her from submerging her wound in the duck pond and from moving around too much. It was also a preventative to keep the aggressive drakes from grabbing her. The delicate skin on her neck wouldn’t have withstood those sex crazed boys.

A few of her eggs had to be cleared out of the house over the course of the week. Two to three eggs didn’t hold up to the strain of Diller nesting on them. They developed dents and cracks from her flopping around the nest. Over time they likely would have rotted or the embryos would have died due to bacterial breech.

Currently, we are on duckling watch eagerly awaiting the arrival of babies. I’m not certain how many eggs were viable when she started setting but our fingers are crossed!